Verdict: The Pro-circuit, race-tested Jamis Xenith Comp Femme 2013 Women’s Road Bike platform lets you scorch steep climbs or make up time on switchback descents with a high-modulus carbon fibre monocoque frame that’s so ride-tuned and gram-lean it’s truly a magic carpet to the podium. These are no-excuses race machines, obsessively built so you can sprint with 100% commitment, throw yourself into corners with absolute confidence and still enjoy smoothly forgiving ride quality.

Specialized’s Amira range of bikes is aimed at women who want to race. This means that the geometry is tight and compact, and in this case features Specialized signature FACT carbon (Functional Advanced Composite Technology) in the full-carbon frame.

The Specialized Amira has been redesigned for 2012 in order to give female cyclists who are serious about road racing a relatively affordable option to pick. It is very light and stiff thanks to the use of a FACT carbon frame and as with all women’s bikes it is endowed with geometry which plays to the strengths of the female body. The Amira range has been used by many professional cyclists and has a number of competitive wins under its belt, so it is a good choice for riders with ambition.

To deliver that stiff, light setup that is essential to success on the road the Specialized Amira has an 8r carbon frame with race-ready geometry. This is matched with other carbon components, including the FACT carbon fork. In total the frame weighs an impressive 100 grams less than the 2011 version, so the 2012 Amira is definitely a step in the right direction. Because this is still a bike for the budget conscious it is no surprise to see in-house alloy handlebars and an alloy seatpost, but this should not be enough to dissuade you from taking a closer look.

Verdict: Being one of the cheapest carbon road bike for ladies you can possible get, the Jamis Xenith Endura Sport 2012 Women’s Road Bike looks a lot like the Xenith Competition racers, sharing the same materials and engineering design elements – and they’re darned near as quick – but look closely, and you’ll discover these to be some of the most versatile speedsters around. Long-reach brakes give you loads of flexibility when it comes to tire selection, rack and fender eyelets let you be a bit more civilized, to match the (very) slightly tamed-down handling manners.

Xenith Endura Sport gets you race-level frame technology, in a package designed for the real world of weekend rides and summertime centuries, meticulously ride-tuned like our racers for perfectly balanced handling that lets you carve deep into corners, but with enhanced stability that prevents wrestling those pesky energy bar wrappers from turning into a white-knuckle adventure.

Verdict: The BMC Pure PR01 Ultegra Compact 2012 Women’s Road Bike, is aimed at long distance female bikers. The Pure PR01 customer rides regularly. As well as a fitting design, the key criteria for these customers are ride comfort, ergonomics and the bikes weight, so that they can realise their aim of combining maximum speed and efficiency.

Weight only 7.55kg or 16.65lbs, is the lightest Ultegra level ladies bike in our reviews.

Verdict: The CLD is a brand new model from Colnago and specifically designed for the lady riders. The frame, manufactured from carbon fibre, uses women’s performance geometry, which gives a very comfortable ride, and is available in four colour options.

As mentioned, the CLD is new from Colnago for the 2013 season. Built for women, this bike features a shorter top tube, to guarantee more comfort, and a tapered head tube (1 1/4 – 1 1/8), for added strength and better precision for greater bike handling. The components have also been carefully chosen to better suit women – the stem is shorter, the handlebar is narrower (compared to Colnago’s usual component selection) and the bike comes fitted with a Selle Italia Ladies saddle.

Four stunning colour designs are available with two specifications to choose from with this bike featuring Shimano Ultegra components and a compact chainset. The Ultegra components are lighter than the 105 model and provide excellent and clean shifting. The compact chainset (Shimano) also provides easier gearing especially when the roads heads skywards. Take into account the 12-25 rear cassette, the CLD Ultegra provides you with plenty of gears to get you up the steepest of climbs, longest of drags and high gears for speed along the flat.

Also supplied are a pair of Shimano RS wheels wrapped with a pair of Continental Ultra Sport 700x23c tyres. These wheels are very strong, fairly light and shouldn’t let you down (colour of wheels will vary from each bike colour option) whilst out on the bike. The tyres will give you excellent grip and are a popular choice for thousands of cyclists worldwide.

Finally, the finishing kit (handlebars, stem, seat post and saddle) are courtesy of Deda and Selle Italia. Deda are represented at the bars and stem, whilst Selle Italia and their Lady Flow saddle provide the seated comfort.

The Colnago CLD is a range of bikes for women and that have been tested, designed and feature women components with one goal – for ladies to enjoy cycling on a properly fitted bike.